Nike

This is a post based on the sports apparel company Nike and will look at the business model focusing around the SWOT analysis.

Strengths

Nike has a strong global brand which everyone will know by its logo. The logo itself needs to be presented without the name and everyone will know what it is, that is how powerful the brand is. Some companies require their names to be present but in this case that is not true. This is garnered a long term customer loyalty base where the products are synonymous with high quality clothing and fitness trainers. The power of the brand is also evident in the fact that Nike has well known athletes and other celebrities which will put further backing to the brand if it is deemed to be “cool” to wear. Athletes like LeBron James, Roger Federer and others such as Andrew Luck where each of these people represent a different sport from basketball to tennis to American football respectively. They promote the company by wearing Nike branded clothes from head to toe to more recently wrist in the form of the Nike FuelBand.

Nike FuelBand

The company is a clothing brand and there is little to innovate in. However, Nike has managed to find ways to innovate their products and to provide a range for various different price points to cater for different demographics. This shows that the company is versatile in its product offering, whilst also remaining relevant as the industry leader. The new Flyknit running shoes, the FuelBand wristband and the Dri-Fit clothing technology are all innovative and are applicable to different products. The Flyknit trainers are very unique where they allow the runner to have a bare foot feel experience, while the FuelBand moves into the new market of wearable technology with a focus on keeping active. The FuelBand allows the user to connect it to their smartphones and to compete against their friends to give a competitive side to always moving and being active.

Weaknesses

Due to the strong brand, the company can be seen as exploitative and greedy. The company can stick their logo on a plain white t-shirt and sell it for over triple the manufacturing cost, not to mention the fact that the company has had problems in the past with its manufacturing processes. The high mark up on the basic products allows the company to generate large levels of profits which can be a seen as unethical, but they do operate as a for profit company. The supply chain is the most important aspect of Nike’s business model, as they need to ensure that they have a solid supply chain from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and to delivery logistics. Each of these areas creates a cost for the company, much like any other, and they could try to squeeze their factory workers with lower wages and/or bad working conditions.

Workers rights violated?

The profit margin of the company is impacted by other factors which aren’t the supply chain. The other main restrain on the margin is the retailer cuts where the retailer will push for a lower wholesale price in order to keep lower prices for their customers. The only way Nike can bypass this is by having their own physical stores, however this would result in an increase in fixed overheads such as wages, rent and utilities which can make it counterproductive. The only way in which this would work is if the store is locating in a central location with a high number of footfall, the best example for the UK is London Oxford Circus, which gets domestic and international tourists entering the branch.

Opportunities

Technology is moving very quickly, and the industry is coming up with new different form factors of usable technology. Mobile phones became smartphones, CDs became MP3 players and VHS became Blu-Ray discs. Nike has dabbed it’s hand in technology when it created Nike+ with a collaboration with Apple where is was sold as a smartphone feature to track running distances and calories burned. Nike had then moved onto making its own wearable fitness technology with a fitness watch, the FuelBand and with a game with the Kinect camera for Xbox 360. Nike could look at investing into more of these types of wearable technology so that they technology is already placed in smartphones. This would be an excellent way to create licensing revenue as well as having a wider reach of consumers.

There are various different types of shoes that Nike offer and the products are seemed to be blurring into other product ranges. Within the Nike Free range, there is Freerun 3.0, Freerun 5.0, Freerun+ 2ID, FlyKnit, FlyKnit Lunar1 +ID and it can be confusing when picking a running shoe. There are only slight differences in the product but the differences can be hard to understand when there is no expanded explanation. The only way in which a consumer can understand these differences is to spend time reading each one and comparing it, or physically going to a Nike store and getting a sales person to assist, and there is no guarantee that the sales person knows everything. Nike could try and streamline the naming of some of their products within certain ranges. This will allow the company to maximise the customers understanding of the products on offer and the features they represent.

Threats

For large multinational corporations, the profit generated from different countries is a great way to continue operating when the domestic market is reaching saturation. The main risk with this is currency fluctuations and how a massive change in the foreign and domestic currency will make any profits overseas can turn it into a loss. Companies have had to create finance divisions specifically to manage their currency risk, most likely using a combination of forward contracts, futures contracts and call/put options. The recent decline in the Indian Rupee shows how the company can benefit from drops in foreign currencies where the goods that Nike will ship to other countries will be even cheaper. The main problem with any currencies changing would be domestic currency for Nike which will be the US Dollar. The US Federal Reserve choosing to continue its asset purchase scheme has allowed the US Dollar to strengthen stock markets to be more risk taking and choose the US market to invest in and the Federal Reserve seems to be continuing asset purchases for the foreseeable future.

All that money

The recent collapse of a Bangladesh clothing manufacturing factory caused major publicity problems for fashion retailers. The collapse brought to light the bad working conditions and the major problem of cutting corners in countries where building legislations are sometimes ignored, especially in the case of the Bangladeshi factory. Nike has had problems with their factories which they have actively and vocally created internal codes of conduct to address concerns of the public. When it comes to the problems of the collapse, the developed world would find it ways to boycott a company is there are seen to be unethical. Nike could find difficulties domestically if they encounter problems with sales if they have any problems with their factories.